Globe and Mail reports that NHL may be loaning money to Phoenix Coyotes

Agreed. The Thrashers have made the playoffs just one time in 10 years. Hard to rally a lot of support for that in a competitive market.

 

Heard and saw a LOT of people wearing black and gold in that rink on television.

People will show up deep into the playoffs. What do the Lightning fans do in the regular season? What kind of revenue/TV do they generate?

I've believed Tampa and Raleigh are two Sun Belt markets that have worked (as has Dallas, which had a hockey culture. The other two cities seem to have a lot of Canadian or Yankee migrants). Of course, all three have won a Stanley Cup. Florida and Phoenix need to follow Atlanta into Quebec and either Hamilton or a second Toronto team pronto.

 

This

 

Yes they are doing great because they receive NHL welfare cheques each year. True markets don't need handouts. They received 12 mill in revenue sharing last year, real successfull.

 

If Atlanta had ever found consistent success, they might have the same following Carolina does. Guess we'll never know.

 

Resoundingly stupid article

 

I'm not so sure. The way I've always gathered it is that Atlanta is a really apathetic city when it comes to its sports teams. Granted, the basis for that thought is that I never got the impression that there was buzz around the Hawks and especially the Thrashers, and that there were plenty of empty seats during Division and League Championship Series home games involving the Braves.

Some Atlanta-centric posters are free to counter that argument, but until then, I question if the Thrashers had much of a long-term chance. Lukewarm ownership probably didn't help, either.

 

Atlanta could have supported a hockey team long term. There was a strong, passionate following for the team that was there night in, night out. The one year they made the playoffs, they drew an average attendance of 16,200, which would be them on par with the Hurricanes and the Predators attendance this year. You also have all the northern transplants who would come to watch their hometown play once or twice a year.

Problem is that was the one and only playoff appearance in 11 years. And that ended damn quickly with a four game opening series sweep by the Rangers.

Couple that with trading away all their big stars--Heatley, Kovalchuk and Hossa to some extent, and the team didn't exactly instill any confidence that making an investment of probably $40 - 80 a pop for tickets was a worthwhile investment.

Funny thing is I wouldn't be surprised to see them have some immediate success in Winnipeg, because there does appear to be something building again on the roster.

 

That's pretty steep for tickets no one was buying. I'll agree with JR in that many non-traditional markets are papering the house with cheap tickets. But better to get a few cents on the dollar than nothing.

They're aware of that in Sunrise, Tampa and Raleigh - all of which have pretty reasonable ticket prices.

Sunrise can't draw flies, but at least doesn't appear to be overcharging those diehards who do want hockey in South Florida.

Tampa is back on track after the disastrous and brief ownership turnstile stopped again.

Raleigh is hanging on, though getting back in the playoffs and showing that they're willing to pay more than two players would help an awful lot. They don't have to overpay anyone or everyone. But paying Eric Staal and Cam Ward while going borderline cheap on blue-liners and the real meat of the roster isn't helping. Jim Rutherford probably knows that, but good luck telling Peter Karmanos that spending now to make more later would likely pay off.

 

Good analysis by Cox on Atlanta moving to the Peg and possible stampede out of markets like Florida and Phoenix

http://thestar.blogs.com/thespin/2011/05/the-soap-opera-turns.html

For starters, interested parties in Canada now have hard evidence that a franchise can be extricated out of the U.S. and moved north. That will encourage the folks in Quebec City to get that arena up and built on schedule by 2015, and quite probably encourage those in the GTA who think announcing a new NHL-sized arena is all that would be necessary to land an existing franchise.

It doesn't hurt that David Thomson is the 14th richest man and the world and the two dollars are virtually at par.

 

I do wonder what happens when the Canadian dollar tumbles down the road.

 

If the Thrashers move to Winnipeg, I'm sure it will buy them some fans for a few years, even if they continue to be lousy. Now if they still stink five years from now, then what? Will the fans be there? Will the corporate support be there? Or will they be back in the same boat?

Having lived in Atlanta a number of years back (before the Thrashers arrived), I agree with the above person who categorized Atlanta as a fair-weather sports town. Hawks, Falcons and Braves have all been through those cycles with the bandwagon jumpers. No need to renew season tickets in the lean years, because unlike say New York or Montreal, you know they will always be available.

That said, we haven't had the chance to see how they would react to a consistently competitive team.